It snowed all day on Thursday, January 4, and by Friday there were a good five or six inches of snow in the lower Sandia foothills. It was cold and the roads were icy but I wanted to see if I could get a few photos anyway. So I walked up into the foothills.
It might not look like much in comparison to other places, but it was a huge amount of snow for us. The photo above looked east to the higher reaches of the mountains, which were enveloped in clouds all day. This was literally the high point of my hike.1
The foothills are full of boulders which were covered with snow that day, not to mention icicles, which are nearly as unusual as snow in these parts.
I thought it wasn’t the best day for a picnic, despite the sunshine and blue sky.
I loved the tiny tracks in the mounds of snow above. I’m not sure who made them — maybe a bird?
I went back up into the foothills at sunset a few days later. Even though the novelty of all the snow had worn off by then I still thought it was quite pretty.2
I’d walked about three miles through the snow by then and still had two more to get home.
Nearly two weeks later, there’s still a fair amount of ice, snow, and mud in the foothills.
I also thought the bird is/was a Mourning Dove. Nice to see it there. The pics are outstanding, as always, Lisa. Thanks for sharing your skill, eyes on nature, and narrative. Always entertaining and good food for the soul.
Thanks for posting this, confirming what we suspected but don’t have snow boots. Love the icicles, beautiful!